Many boat insurance companies will offer discounts on boating insurance to boaters who successfully complete America's Boating Course. And, this beginner boating class will give you the knowledge needed to obtain a boating safety certification in many states.

The ABC boat and water safety course topics include:

Introduction to Boating: types of power boats; sailboats; outboards; paddle boats; houseboats; different uses of boats; various power boating engines; jet drives; family boating basics.

Hunting and Fishing, Water-skiing and River Boating: fishing from a boat; water-skiing safety guidelines and hand signals; water-skiing with a PWC; navigating rivers, and other boating tips.

Advanced course descriptions:

Piloting (Navigation for Boaters):

The Piloting course covers the basics of coastal and inland navigation. Topics include: navigation using GPS, use of typical GPS displays and the information that they provide, charts and their interpretation, navigation aids and how they mark safe water, plotting courses and determining direction and distance, the mariner's compass, and converting between true and magnetic courses and bearings.

Advanced Piloting(Navigation for Boaters):

The Advanced Piloting course provides students with information on navigation, covering advanced topics of coastal and inland navigation. Some of the topics covered will include: plotting courses and determining direction and distance considering the effects of wind and current; and determination of Tides and Currents and their impact on courses and the voyage. The Piloting course is a prerequisite for taking the Advanced Piloting course.

Seamanship:

Seamanship provides foundational information for new boaters and boaters who want to increase their knowledge and skills. The Seamanship course will facilitate knowledge development for increased safe operation of recreational boats with emphasis on higher level boating skills including: rules of the road, docking and undocking, anchoring, night operation, emergencies, boat handling in heavy waters, marlinspike basic knots, use of boat safety equipment, and the skipper’s responsibilities for operating a safe boat.

Sail:

The Sail course was designed to serve the needs of both the novice and experienced sailor, as well as the non-sailor, to impart basic skills and knowledge. The course begins with basic sailboat design and nomenclature, rigging, safety, and sailing processes, and then tackles the physical forces and techniques, sail applications, helmsmanship and handling of more difficult sailing conditions, navigation rules, and an introduction to heavy weather sailing.

Weather:

The course focuses on how weather systems form, behave, move, and interact with one another and reflects the availability of all sorts of weather reports and forecasts on the Internet.

Power Squadron WeatherMamual - text with full color photographs and drawings covering weather in the United States and its coastal and inland waters;

a set of three Daily Weather Maps - learning aids with a compete explanation of map symbols designed to develop weather map reading and analysis skills; and